Is it really happening already?

After Kristin and I made it back from Taiwan, we still had three days left in Beijing.  This was perfect because Kristin and I still had some things on your to-do list that we still needed to check off, including 798 art district and the Great Wall.  It was kind of funny because I've gone to both of these places, but when I brought Kristin, we got somewhat lost/ took other routes and we ended up seeing a new area that I hadn't seen the first time.  While it was a bit frustrating trying to find our way in the beginning, it turned out great because I got to have a different experience than when I first went.

On our way to the 798 art district I decided to finally try a roasted sweet potato from a street vendor.  I've seen them all over China but never tried, and finally decided to give it a go.  It was so delicious.  Hot right out of the oven, and little bits on the side had carmelized into yummy goodness.  I should have started buying these things earlier.  After my little snack, we headed into 798 and ran into a man that was making wire art.  He was skillfully using pliers and wire and writing out people's Chinese names.  It was really impressive and we found out that he never actually went to art school or anything either.  It was just something he picked up on his own and enjoyed doing.  Kristin got her name written in Chinese and I got a ring with the word "愛" on it, meaning love.  Walking around 798, we got to see a couple different exhibits and little shops.  We liked the shops the best because they always had unique things and trinkets to buy or just look at.

For the Great Wall, I decided to bring Kristin to the Badaling part of the wall.  The day we went was perfect weather because it was sunny, warm, and barely any wind.  Getting there was a hassle however.  The first time I went I took the subway part of  the way, and then got on a 919 bus for about 45 minutes that took us straight to the Badaling Great Wall entrance.  The second time, we did the exact same thing... EXCEPT the bus turned out to be a 919 块 (fast) bus used by local Chinese people.  Meaning that they don't stop at the Badaling stop.  We found this out after we had driven over an hour and I started getting worried so I ask the bus driver why it was taking so long.  Apparently we had to take the normal 919 bus and not the fast one.  So Kristin and I had to get off and wait for a bus in the other direction.  In the end, it dropped us off at a different location than I had been to before... but it turned out really well.  The Badaling area we got dropped off at turned out to be an even prettier area of the Great Wall. So I got to have a different experience visiting the wall and Kristin loved it as well.

Now Kristin and I are at the Beijing airport on our way home.  Our last couple days in Beijing were great.  We got to do everything we wanted on our checklist and we got to eat all the yummy food we wanted to eat before we left like bubble tea, bibimbap, sushi, and red date cake just to name a few.  Our last meal we went to a yunnan restaurant called Middle 8th with our friend Stefan and had a nice last meal.

I'm still in disbelief that it's all ending.  I go through waves of emotion that range from sad, happy, excited, to dread.  It's all very bittersweet.  I've had such a great time here in Beijing, so it makes it hard to head home.  I've been so lucky to experience what I have and meet the many people I know I will keep in touch with even when I'm at home.  Definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I won't forget.  And to everyone who has been following my blog, thanks for reading and I hope you have all enjoyed the blog and experiencing my time in Beijing with me.

Next time I write, it'll be from MN!!  再见大家 :D

The great city of Taipei

After staying about 4 days with my Aunt in Tainan, we took the high speed train to Taipei in the north of Taiwan to visit my Dad's side of the family.  While I love alllll of Taiwan, it's interesting seeing the differences between Tainan and Taipei.  Tainan is a smaller version of Taiwan with less people and a little bit less to do.  The food in both is just as delicious however ;)

So what did we end up doing in our first day of being in Taipei?  Night markets of course! One of my mom's old high school friends took us to Shilin night market which is one of the most popular ones in Taiwan.  It was definitely a lot bigger than the one in Tainan.  With a lot more variety of clothes and different food choices.  One thing that's great about going to these things with other people is that you can order a whole bunch of food and just try a bit so you don't get too stuffed.  So I sampled alot of different things :)  There were soooo many cute things that I wanted to buy.  However, my Kristin and I already have 5 suitcases to bring back (we love to shop! :P) and they are pretttyy much stuffed.  So I resisted buying a lot while I was in Taiwan.  What made it a bit easier is that things are actually a good amount more expensive than things in Beijing.  Still.... it was hard saying no to lots of things.

Entrance to the night market

The ubiquitous stinky tofu

Really yummy crispy bun thing

Kristin and I tried our hand at fishing for shrimps

FRUIT <3

Of course, I got to see alot of my Dad's side of the family.  They always look forward to when any of us come back and they took us all around Taipei and fed us nonstop.  It was great being able to see all of them :)  My cousin brought Kristin and I up to the top of Taipei 101 at night to see the night view.  After an hour wait to get to the top, all I can say is... GORGEOUS.  Especially with all the lights and seeing all the different buildings.  It is definitely worth the wait.

101 at night

101 during the day

Taking the fastest elevator in the world to the top of 101

One thing different about Kristin and I's trip to Taiwan this time is that we were on our own.  Usually when we go back to Taiwan, it's with family so we're always with them.  This time, Kristin and I were able to wander around on our own and it was a different experience just wandering the streets of Taipei and going into little shops and whatnot.  Taipei is the perfect city to wander around, especially all the little side streets filled with street food and interesting shops.

Palm trees in Taiwan?

Kristin and I were sad that we only had such a short time in Taiwan and had to come back to Beijing, but we were really happy that we had such a great time regardless.  Only a couple more days left in Beijing now!  Just bringing her around to a couple places she hasn't been like 798 art district and the Great Wall!!  I can't believe it's ending already....

Taiwan, how I've missed you!

I am soooo happy to be able to tell you guys that Kristin and I are now in Taiwan!! We'll be here from Jan 9-16.  We're spending the first half with my aunt in Tainan in the south of Taiwan and the second half in Taipei with my Dad's side of the family.  Right when I got off the plane, I could see how different it is from China and I absolutely love it.

The high speed train station

We got into Taipei around 7pm on 9th and went straight the high speed train that took us straight to Tainan in about 1.5 hours.  My aunt picked us up around 10pm and took us straight to eat street food. YES.  My aunt is the absolute best!  We went to this stand where you could pick and choose different types of meat and vegetables and they fry it and put seasoning on it.  We got to eat chicken, sweet potato, green beans, a Japanese thing called Tian Bu La, mushrooms, taro... we feasted haha.  It was so not healthy, but absolutely delicious. Another thing different about Taiwan is that a lot of food places are open to really late at night.  So when we got our food around 11pm, it was still early for some places.  Taiwan people never stop eating! :D  However, what I've also noticed is that many places then don't open until 10:30 or 11 even!  I guess if you stay up late, you're going to naturally wake up later, huh? :P

All the choices of food we could fry

Fried deliciousness

The second day we were here, my Aunt took us to one of the biggest night markets in Taiwan!  It opens at 6pm and it's recommended to get there around 7pm if you want to miss the crowds because by 9pm the place is completely packed with people and the lines to get food or even enter the night market are crazy long.  With my sister, aunt, and I we got to sample a whole bunch of different things.  I tried some things like pig's blood that actually wasn't too bad, some yummy fruit on a stick, and oyster omelette just to name a few!  Taste buds galore at the night markets for sure. 

Some sweet glaze covered fruit (not sure what kind...) on a stick!

Squid and fish balls

Pig's blood covered in peanuts.  Not as bad as I thought it'd be :P

Taiwanese sausage.  This stuff is so delicious!

Oyster omelette

Rice noodle with pig intestines

PACKED

Yummy toffee glazed sweet potatoes

I can already tell why I like Taiwan so much better than my experience in Beijing.  For example, when we went to the night market, even though there were a lot of people, I was never shoved, pushed, or yelled at.  If someone bumped into me, they would apologize.  This would probably never happen in Beijing, especially if there was a large crowd.  Also, there's such a thing as customer service! When my sister and I got off the plane, we were a bit hungry and went over to 7-eleven to get some food and the people at the counter actually greeted and smiled at us!  And when we asked a train attendant for directions, he was really nice and friendly about it.  I've had situation in Beijing where I asked an attendant a question, and another attendant standing right next to her would pull her away from me to ignore me instead of helping me out!!  I was so frustrated.  But, I have yet to experience that in Taiwan :)

I am also happy to say that I have reunited with my favorite bakery ever! 85 degrees C!  This bakery can be found alll over Taiwan and their pastries are delicious and cheap :)  My favorite bread is pineapple bread but I decided I needed to try something new and I am glad I did!  I got a bread that I think was a strawberry bread that they put some Japanese style cream cheese in.  yummmy nummmyy. I love bread <3

I can't wait to tell you guys more about my time in Taiwan!!  More updates on my travels and food experiences soon!

Still alive

I survived!!! All fingers and toes still intact too :D  I was the most scared about going to the Snow and Ice parks in Harbin because that would mean a whole day out in the cold. In the end, I would say the experience was completely worth it.  I’ve never been anywhere so cold in my life, and was honestly worried about losing my toes for a bit, but once I saw the ice sculptures with all the pretty lights, I knew why people rave about this place so much.  

They were building an ice sculpture right outside the airport

So our day started around 9:30 with the 15 minute process of putting on clothes.  I was wearing 5 layers of shirts/long sleeves, 3 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, and 2 scarves.  I feel like I just sang that one Christmas song :P  Anyways, so I was bundled up and I checked the temperature right before I left.  It was -22 degrees F but it really “felt” like -47 degrees F (-30 and -44 degrees respectively for my non-American people haha).  Yikes.  Our first stop was the snow sculptures.  Entrance fees into these parks are pretty steep.  It cost everyone 240 rmb (~$40) for the snow sculptures.  Seeing all the snow sculptures, I was amazed at how people can create these works of art with just their hands and a couple tools.  I wish I could do things like that and be super creative!  Maybe someday… but until then I’ll just stick with looking at other people’s works of art ;)  We were outside from about 10:30 to 2 and I can safely say my toes had completely lost all feeling but the rest of my body was ok!  Layers and layers of clothing definitely helped haha.

First snow sculpture at the entrance of the park

After the Snow sculpture park, we took a short break and warmed up.  We went to my Uncle’s university where he teaches and grabbed some food in the student supermarket.  Their supermarket is really similar to Tsinghua’s actually.  I got a roll thing with meat and vegetables and some mystery glaze type thing.  It was tasty!  After being refueled and slightly warmed up, we headed out to the Ice sculpture park.

The Ice Sculpture park is directly across from the Snow sculpture park on Sun Island.  Driving into the park, I was instantly amazed at how beautiful the ice is all lit up with different colors.  I really don’t think pictures could do it justice.  Entrance fees into this park were even more expensive at 320 rmb (~$53) but we were able to get discounted tickets at 160 rmb because my sister and I were students.  Yay for school!  Anyways, onto the ice sculptures.  Some of these ice sculptures were HUGEEE.  You could even walk up a couple and slide down.  They even had an ice “bar” where you could sit and pretend to order drinks.  I asked a friend who took us around how long it took to make these ice sculptures and he said this whole ice sculpture park was put together in 10 days.  Holy crap!  That is so fast. Apparently the ice doesn’t last that long either.  He said the whole park only stays around for about a month and a half.  After it starts getting warmer it’s not as safe to have the park open because if ice starts melting and falling on people… bad news.  So, that makes sense.  But I was surprised at how short of a time they were open.   I really liked the ice park.  I’d say it was a lot better than the snow park especially because it looked sooo pretty with all the lights and whatnot.

Harbin people love their beer

The ice sculpture even had a giant screen in it!

In the end, I am really happy I came to Harbin.  I got to see my Aunt and Uncle again and see what I had heard everyone talking about and see what Harbin is really known for (besides the cold ;).  Today is Kristin and I’s last day and Harbin and our entire day is free, so what do we plan to do? More shopping! :P 

Happy New Year's!!

Happy 2013 everyone!! Somehow all of us have made it through 2012 despite news of the world possibly ending and all that non-sense.  I've had such great experiences this past year and I can't wait to make new ones in 2013 :)

For New Year's, since most of my international friends cleared out of Beijing to go to more exciting places :P, a couple friends and I went to a club called Elements in Sanlitun.  Sadly, there is no big countdown anywhere in Beijing :(  (side note: I did some research and apparently they had a second annual countdown at the Summer Palace but it wasn't open to the public... like, what?  Having a celebration that normal citizens can't join doesn't make any sense to me... but oh well!)  My sister has never gone out to the clubs before so this was her first time.  I was excited for her to experience it!  Especially since I've enjoyed going out clubbing in China a lot.  In the end, it wasn't toooo much different of an experience than any other weekend in Sanlitun but they did count down into the new year at least haha.  And I'm glad that I got to spend it with friends and family as well :)

On New Year's Day, my sister and I went to have the most relaxing (yet, painful?) experience ever.  We went to a place called Tai Dian and got Thai style massages!  This massage place was soooo nice.  Good atmosphere and the massage people were super nice.  I've never gotten a massage before so this was definitely a good experience for the first one.  What I've realized about Thai massages is that they move you around a lot in slightly painful positions, but at the end of the massage your whole body feels so relaxed and loose.  My massage person told me I had a lot of tension in my neck, which is totally true.  He worked out all the knots, which was really painful actually, but it felt really good when I left.  

Inside our massage rooms

Then, Kristin and I were headed home and had a spontaneous decision... to go shopping lol.  Might as well while we're in China, right? :P  I brought her to the Beijing Zoo market which is a cheaper, grungier version of the Silk Market.  Prices are much lower there than the Silk Market, so much so that you don't even bargain down the price if you don't really want to.  But Kristin and I still did ;)  And in the end... I spent more than she did.  Whoops :P  I just can't resist when I see cute things! Good thing Kristin brought a completely empty suitcase with her when she came to Beijing haha.  Will definitely be putting that to good use.

Our Beijing market goods and the treats for ourselves after shopping ;)

And now Kristin and I are in Beijing visiting my Aunt and Uncle.  You guys... it is so cold here.  Highs are in the negatives and that isn't even taking into account windchill.  When I got back to my hotel last night, I literally couldn't move my toes.  I was worried I was going to lose them :P  But today, we're toughing it out again and heading out into the cold to see the snow and ice sculptures that Harbin is known for.  I've heard they're gorgeous, so I'm pretty excited.  I'll post pictures and stuff when I get back!